Inland Pacific Ballet The Nutcracker

December 7-22, 2024 Claremont & Riverside, CA

Riverside Fox Performing Arts Center

December 14-15, 2024

Fox Performing Arts Center 
3801 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
$24-84 approx., riversidelive.com | ipballet.org

December 14, 2024, 2 p.m.
December 15, 2024, 2 p.m.

Claremont Bridges Auditorium

December 16-17, 2 p.m.

Pomona College
450 N. College Way
Claremont, CA
$67-95, pomona.edu
December 7, 2024, 2 p.m.
December 8, 2024, 2 p.m.
December 21, 2024, 2 p.m.
December 22, 2024, 2 p.m.

The Nutcracker from critically acclaimed Inland Pacific Ballet comes to life in this magnificent ballet with beautiful sets, dazzling costumes, Tchaikovsky's classic score, and more than 80 dancers on stage. This annual holiday production tells the story of a young girl named Clara who receives a magical nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve and sets out on a wondrous journey to the Land of the Snow and the Kingdom of Sweets. Toy soldiers, life-sized dancing dolls, falling snow, a fantastic dream with battling mice, dancing snowflakes, waltzing flowers, gingerbread characters, and the delightful Sugar Plum Fairy stir the imagination.

Inland Pacific Ballet, founded in 1994 by Southern California natives Victoria Koenig and Kevin Frank Myers, quickly became one of Southern California's cultural jewels. Its mission is to build and sustain a professional ballet company in the Inland Empire of Southern California, committed to producing exquisitely staged productions of full-length classic story ballets as well as presenting the best in contemporary choreography.

Koenig and Myers have built Inland Pacific Ballet into the premier ballet company in the region, enjoying critical acclaim while performing the largest and most varied repertoire in the area. The Company's repertoire includes such classics as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Les Sylphides, Graduation Ball and Swan Lake Act II. Full length classical masterpieces include Giselle, Coppélia and a lavish production of The Nutcracker. Contemporary classics include masterpieces by the legendary George Balanchine including Serenade, Concerto Barocco and Who Cares? and a growing body of original work which includes creative adaptations of much-loved stories such as The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Dracula, and Beauty and the Beast.

Based in the Inland Empire region of southern California, the Company performs its home season from October to May as Company in Residence at the historic Bridges Auditorium in Claremont. In 2010 the Company began adding other southern California venues to its regular season including the Lewis Family Playhouse in Rancho Cucamonga (2010), the Arcadia Performing Arts Center in Arcadia (2013), the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside (2014), and the Sophia B. Clarke Theater in Walnut (2019). Festival programs such as the Redlands Bowl Music Festival, Balletfest and Dance Kaleidoscope have also allowed the Company to reach an ever-expanding audience. Recent partnerships include a guest appearance with San Bernardino Symphony in 2018.

Regional touring has included the Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angeles, the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, the Annenberg Theater in Palm Desert, the Haugh Performing Arts Center in Glendora, the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. In 2009 the Company embarked on its first national tour, performing at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts in Amarillo, Texas.

 

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The Company's repertoire includes such classics as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Les Sylphides, Graduation Ball and Swan Lake Act II. Full length classical masterpieces include Giselle, Coppelia and a lavish production of The Nutcracker. Contemporary classics include masterpieces by the legendary George Balanchine including Serenade, Concerto Barocco and Who Cares? and a growing body of original work which includes creative adaptations of much-loved stories such as The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Dracula and Beauty and the Beast.

Victoria Koenig - After many years as a professional dancer, and extensive international travel as a guest artist and teacher, Victoria Koenig returned home to Southern California and has become a shaping force in the region's dance community. She co-founded the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet, was on the faculty of the Stanley Holden Dance Center, and served on the dance faculty of California State University, Long Beach.  Koenig has brought her many years of professional experience to the Inland Valley as Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Inland Pacific Ballet, one of the fastest growing cultural assets in Southern California. She is also on the dance faculty at Pomona College.

Kevin Myers - Myers danced with the Houston Ballet in solo roles in the classic repertoire including The Nutcracker, Giselle, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. As soloist with the Los Angeles Ballet he danced principal roles in Balanchine ballets, including Tarantella and Jewels. Myers is fulfilling a dream of widening the opportunities for young people of the Inland Empire to experience the art of ballet.

Jill Voznick, co-directory, joined the Southwest Ballet Center as a scholarship student and also trained at The School of American Ballet in New York City. A graduate of the National Academy of Arts in Champaign, IL, she became a member of The National Ballet of Illinois and the Joffrey II Dancers before joining The Atlanta Ballet in 1980, where she was a soloist and principal dancer for 13 years. In addition to her accomplishments with the Atlanta Ballet she has established herself as a renowned teacher at The Atlanta School of Ballet, the official school of North Carolina Dance Theater, Dance Place and The Cincinnati School of Ballet.  ipballet.org